The fatality risk of front-seat occupants of passenger cars and light trucks equipped with air bags is compared to the corresponding risk in similar vehicles without air bags, based on statistical analyses of Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS) data from 1986 through early 1996. The principal conclusion is that driver air bags save lives. The fatality reduction benefit of air bags for all drivers is an estimated 11 percent, this percentage is essentially unchanged from 1992 and 1994 analyses by NHTSA staff. New, positive findings are that driver air bags save lives in light trucks and in small cars, that passenger air bags save lives of right-front passengers age 13 or older, and that driver air bags provide a significant supplemental life-saving benefit for the driver who buckles up (as well as saving lives of unbelted drivers). On the other hand, preliminary analyses of limited accident data show a higher fatality risk for child passengers age 0-12 in cars with current dual air bags than in cars without a passenger air bag. Also, current air bags may have diminished, or even negligible benefits for drivers age 70 or older, and the do not have a statistically significant effect for drivers of any age group in oblique-frontal crashes. (A)
Abstract